


Not So Rare

by Brumeier



Series: Alternate Earths 'verse [4]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alternate Universe, Community: ushobwri, M/M, Pre-Slash, Protests, Team, Unicorns, Zoo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-11
Updated: 2016-10-11
Packaged: 2018-08-21 22:53:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8263393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brumeier/pseuds/Brumeier
Summary: AE-13 is nearly identical to Earth Prime...until Rodney's team takes a closer look at the zoo.





	

“This doesn’t feel like exploration,” Rodney complained.

Ford threw popcorn at him. “There’s nothing to explore here, Doc. AE-13 is identical to our Earth.”

“It’s not identical.”

“Rodney,” John said.

“Okay, fine. It’s nearly identical.”

So far the only difference they’d found was that school buses were bright blue instead of yellow. Which was an admittedly small difference, but the lack of large-scale changes from Earth Prime didn’t mean they should be wasting their time walking around the zoo.

“I like the big cats,” Analise said. She had her hair pulled back in a ponytail, which Rodney found quite distracting because it made her look more like a fresh-faced schoolgirl than the professional scientist she was. “Power and beauty.”

“Women always like cats,” Ford said.

“Hey! I like cats!” Rodney protested.

“Something’s up over there.” John nodded his head at one of the enclosures farther up the wide cement walkway.

A group of people had gathered, some with signs, and several security guards dressed in safari outfits were standing by.

“Probably an animal rights group,” Analise said. “They have a lot of issues with zoos, and really, some of them are justified. Did you know a lot of zoos are still importing animals from the wild, sometimes from poachers?”

“They do a lot of good, though,” Ford argued. “Breeding programs, and animal rescue. Education. My grandparents took me to the zoo a lot when I was a kid.”

As they got closer to the animal enclosure Rodney could see that one of the protestors, wearing a t-shirt that said _Animals Are Better Than Us_ , seemed to be the leader of the group. He was arguing with a woman wearing an official-looking badge marking her as a zoo employee. 

“You’re depriving these animals the chance to build normal family groups!” the guy shouted. “You talk about your great breeding program, but what are you doing with the baby? Where’s he going to go? These animals are meant to be in a herd, but you’ll sell the baby off to the highest bidder!”

"You should do your research, Andrew,” the zoo lady responded calmly. “Programs like ours help keep animals off the endangered species list.”

“But at what cost?” the guy shot back.

“Wild horses?” Ford guessed.

“Oh. Wow.” Analise dragged Rodney closer. “Look!”

Ford wasn’t far off. The animals in question were undeniably equine in appearance, save for the distinctive single horn that stood out from the middle of their foreheads.

“Unicorns?” John asked incredulously. 

“Unicorns!” Ford echoed, a huge grin on his face.

“That’s new.” Rodney couldn’t stop staring. They looked just like every illustration of a unicorn that he’d ever seen: white coats, white manes, white horn that tapered off to almost a point. There were two of them, a mare and a stallion, and a colt with a barely visible bump on its forehead where its horn would presumably grow.

John nudged Rodney with his shoulder. “Pretty cool, huh?”

“I’m not sure cool is the word I’d use,” Rodney replied, but he bumped John back. 

So, okay. Maybe it was nice just standing next to John watching actual unicorns grazing in their enclosure. It certainly beat battling tentacle monsters, the KGB, and demons.

There’d been an attraction between them from the beginning, when Rodney thought John was just a delivery man, but now that they were on a team together Rodney wasn’t sure it would be right to act on it.

“The quality of life of animals in captivity is severely diminished,” the protester said. He wasn’t shouting anymore, but he was still very loud. “They develop behaviors they never exhibit in the wild. The habitats zoos provide are nowhere near big enough.”

“Actually,” John murmured to Rodney. “This set up looks pretty decent. We had horses when I was a kid, and if their food and water is in one central location they don’t really move too far from it.”

He gestured with his hand, his arm brushing up against Rodney’s. “See how they have running water moving through the enclosure, and different types of ground cover separating the feeding areas? That means the horses won’t be too stationary, they’ll move around more. And the variety of textures is good for their hooves.”

“Unicorns,” Rodney corrected. “I had no idea you were such an equestrian.”

He tried to picture John on horseback. No doubt he’d look amazing, like some kind of romance novel cover. Button down shirt hanging open, fierce expression on his face, thighs tightly gripping the…

“You okay, Dr. McKay?” Analise asked. “You look flushed.”

Rodney scowled at her. “I’m fine.”

The protest carried on behind them, with accusations of wrongful euthanasia and unicorns goring their handlers. It reminded Rodney of the hubbub surrounding killer whales at Sea World.

“We should see if there are more mythological creatures here,” Analise suggested. “Perhaps unicorns aren’t the only ones.”

Ford bounced on his feet like a little kid. “Please let there be dragons!”

“Come on, Rodney.” John wrapped his hand around Rodney’s wrist. “Let’s go look for some flying lizards.”

Rodney allowed himself to be pulled away. Truth be told, he was a little excited himself. And maybe a day to just be tourists on a world where unicorns were real, and dragons might be, wasn’t so bad. After all, dragons might turn out to be just what they needed to fight the Goa’uld.

And if not, they’d still be cool as shit.

**Author's Note:**

>  **AN:** Written for [Monster Fest](http://ushobwri.livejournal.com/127165.html) at You Should Be Writing, for Mythological Day.


End file.
